#I can do a whole paragraph about how they wanted to paint her as the crazy twin but shes far more likeable than her sister

[bennettmaximoff]

Hope and Lizzie’s relationship and how it developed over the seasons was one of the very minuscule things Legacies did right. I mean I have a few issues with how they handle Lizzie’s mental health, but she’s a good character in general and her development was great. I prefer her out of the twins for multiple reasons and I would list them out, but i’m saving those grievances for another rant lol.

#hizzie #lizzie saltzman #hope mikaelson #anti josie saltzman #I can do a whole paragraph about how they wanted to paint her as the crazy twin but shes far more likeable than her sister #legacies #i know its a backhanded compliment but it’s not completely anti so

[curseofdelos]

I finished re-reading TLH recently, and I want to talk about the common fan interpretation of Piper as a pick me girl for a sec (let me preface this whole post by clarifying that while this is ultimately a defense of Piper as a character, it is also a critique of how Rick wrote her, Drew, and the rest of cabin 10)

The way cabin 10 is written in the books has never been great. Very early on in TLT, Rick makes a point to establish that Aphrodite had both sons and daughters:

Take note of how Rick explicitly genders Aphrodite kids in this paragraph, but uses the gender neutral "kids" to refer to the children of every other god. This is a very deliberate writing choice, and I can't think of any reason why he would have done this other than to (initially anyway) avoid associating womanhood with vanity/interest in personal appearances.

...And then in every book after this, cabin 10 heavily skews female, and traditional femininity becomes the butt of almost every joke about them.

Cabin 10 doesn't get any real focus until TLH with the introduction of Piper, Drew, and the rest of Cabin 10, in which Rick spends a lot of time establishing how different Piper is from the rest of her cabin because she rejects traditional femininity. Piper cuts her own hair, she doesn't wear makeup or care about fashion, she hates dresses etc. This is in direct contrast with Drew who's often described as wearing heavy makeup, having perfectly done hair, manicured nails etc.

Note that Piper's description of Drew's appearance is fairly neutral. Her problem with Drew is not in how she chooses to dress, but in her behaviour.

This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that every time Drew's appearance is described, it is directly preceded and/or followed by her doing something heinous. She insults and degrades Piper's appearance within seconds of meeting her, and we see this again in the Cabin 10 scene where she bullies and manipulates their siblings - kicking them out of the bathroom mid-shower, dumping a bin filled with used tampons on the floor and making them clean it up, etc.

Piper and Drew are in direct competition throughout the entirety of TLH. Piper strongly disapproves of the way Drew runs the cabin, they have differing opinions on Silena Beauregard (despite the fact Piper doesn't actually know her but I digress), and they're both interested in pursuing Jason romantically - Piper out of genuine attraction, and Drew out of the desire to break his heart for the Aphrodite Rite of Passage.

The narrative at every turn pits them against each other. Piper's intentions are always painted as pure and kindhearted while Drew is consistently characterised as a stereotypical mean girl who hurts others simply because she can. Drew is never given any motivation for acting the way she does, and her sole role in the story is to act as an obstacle for Piper to overcome so she could become counsellor (which is kind of pointless considering Piper never interacts with her cabin again after this). She's flat and two-dimensional, and never gets any real character development. Her sole personality trait is mean.

The result of all of this is that traditional femininity gets associated with shitty behaviour, while the rejection of traditional femininity gets associated with kindness and generosity. It should be stressed that Piper herself doesn't actually think that she's better than Drew because she doesn't wear makeup etc; Piper's issues entirely lie with Drew's behaviour. The worst Piper ever says is calling all of cabin 10 "shallow" which is no different to how the other characters talk about them (which is still a problem to be clear; it's just not a problem with Piper specifically, but how the narrative characterises cabin 10 as a whole). It's the narrative that paints femininity as lesser because of the way it positions tomboy Piper (the protagonist) as a better person than highly feminine Drew (the antagonist).

In fact, the most explicitly we ever see the book paint Piper's appearance as preferable to Drew's is in Jason's POV - not Piper's. After Piper gets claimed and Aphrodite changes her appearance, Jason spends several chapters going on and on about how much more beautiful and desirable Piper is when she's not dressed up or wearing makeup.

Because of all of this, it's not difficult to see why so many people in this fandom have interpreted Piper as a pick me 'not like other girls' type girl. The narrative constantly presents her as a better person than the more feminine Drew, and Jason (the boy they're competing over) chooses her at least partly because of how naturally beautiful she is without trying.

However, even though I do understand where this interpretation of her character came from, I do want to push back on it for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it is explicitly stated several times in TLH that the reasons Piper doesn't wear makeup and cuts her own hair is because (1) she doesn't like being the centre of attention (see the first screenshot of this post), and (2) she's rebelling against her father.

Piper's entire character arc in TLH centres around her initially being insecure at the start of the book to becoming more confident over the course of their quest. It is stated on several occasions early on that Piper doesn't like being the centre of attention, but by the end, she feels more comfortable in her own skin. She goes from being embarrassed/hurt by Drew's comments about her to laughing them off and standing up to her by the end.

The term "pick me girl" refers to girls who do things for external, mostly male validation. This is the exact opposite of why Piper doesn't wear makeup or conform to traditional femininity. She does this precisely because she does NOT want to draw attention to herself. The only male who's attention she is trying to get is her father's, and she's doing this by acting out in ways he doesn't approve of. Piper does want validation from her father, but she's not cutting her own hair to get his validation; she's so starved for affection that she wants any attention from him, even if that attention is negative.

Similarly, a major point of conflict for Piper is whether or not Jason is attracted to her, but she is not rejecting feminine things because she wants to impress him Jason does find those qualities in her attractive, but Piper held these opinions long before they even met. It was Jason/the narrative that paints those qualities in Piper attractive, not Piper herself. (Side note: there's a lot more to be said about how their relationship was written in TLH, but that isn't relevant to get into that here.)

The other reason why I want to push back on the interpretation of Piper as a pick me girl is that she's a queer woman. In a straight patriarchal society, women (women of colour especially) are often expected and pressured to perform gender in particular ways - wearing makeup, dressing femininely, being attracted to boys and exclusively boys. In much the same way that Piper's coming out now makes it possible to read her relationship with Jason as compulsory heterosexuality, it's also possible to read her discomfort with traditional femininity as discomfort with being a straight girl. It's possible to retroactively read Piper's dislike for feminine things as her feeling uncomfortable with heterosexuality but is too closeted at this point to realise it. She does, after all, cut her hair very short at the end of TBM while she is the process of exploring her sexuality.

(To be clear: I'm not arguing that this is what Rick had always intended for her - I assume he expected Jason/Piper would be endgame at the time he was writing TLH - but I do think there's a 'death of the author' interpretation available here that her hatred of dresses etc is an early sign of her being a closeted queer woman who is beginning to explore her gender presentation and sexuality.)

I feel that sometimes, in their efforts to (rightly) criticise the way femininity gets treated in this series, some people act as if makeup is in intrinsic part of womanhood and that Piper is a misogynist for not wanting to wear it. This is not true. It is not inherently misogynistic for a woman to dislike it - especially when that woman is queer, and especially in today's society where many women are pressured into wearing makeup to be taken seriously. Piper disliking makeup is not the problem.

The problem with Piper's story in TLH is that the narrative consistently presents her as a better person than the more feminine Drew, and a more desirable option for Jason because of how beautiful she is without trying really hard like Drew and the other Aphrodite girls do. Because every highly feminine character is either a villain (Drew) or a joke (Valentina in TOA), the result of Piper and Drew's rivalry is that femininity gets demonised by the narrative. Again, it's not that Piper herself thinks she's better than Drew for hating fashion; it's the way the story puts these characters in opposition to each other that results in femininity being framed as lesser.

I think a writer with a better grasp of women's issues (and queer women's issues especially) could have written a great story here on gender as a performance, and an exploration on conforming (Drew) VS rebelling (Piper) against gender norms! How there really is no winning and women get harassed for being too feminine AND for not being feminine enough (See: the jokes about Clarisse in PJO not being a girl/being manly because she's violent and rough around the edges)! What we got instead was a story that carries the deeply unfortunate implication that girls who don't care about their appearance are kinder and more desirable than girls who do.

It's not Piper that's the problem; it's the narrative. I think a lot of people have been conflating the two, and have been unfairly pinning the blame onto Piper's characterisation when the fault lies with the plot, and with Drew's characterisation as a flat two-dimensional mean girl stereotype. I think if Drew had been given a redemption arc like Clarisse, or some amount of depth that explains why she hates Silena and acts the way she does, or even if she and Piper had learned to respect each other despite their differences, then we would be having a very different conversation.

#piper mclean #drew tanaka #rr crit #meta #mine #just in case it isn't clear I do actually like Drew I just wish she wasn't written Like That #also sorry this post is so long I had a lot to say lol #also also I have zero interest in having a debate about makeup make your own post if you disagree

[greenishghostey]

Snap & Bite

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Summary: You'd known Eddie since he moved to Hawkins back in 3rd grade. You guys weren't friends - he likely didn't even know your name anymore. But it's amazing how much you can connect with the town freak when sitting outside the principal's office.

Word Count: 3,618

Warnings: None! This is just a good ol' fluffy meet-cute oneshot

Author Notes: Right, this was meant to be short and sweet but its over 3k, but still, enjoy! I'm not sure if this idea has been done before. But I hadn't seen any fics relating to bonding outside the principal's office which would be on brand for Edward.

///

You had never, in your many years of education, been sent to the principal’s office. Keeping your head and staying out of trouble was all you wanted since school was already rough enough. Being one of the few artsy and “out-there” kids in bumfuck Indiana made you a prime candidate for teasing and general unwanted attention. Whether it was about the few streaks of paint that had gotten on your jeans or the fact that you weren’t willing to help anyone with their art projects - it didn’t matter; any facet of your being was an issue in the eyes of Hawkins’ graduating class of 1984.

None of it had been your fault - well, at least not entirely your fault. Marissa Shannon, in all of her venomous, permed glory, chose a dreary Wednesday to push you to breaking point. Normally, Marissa would make passing comments about you, maybe a few to your face, and be done with it. However, today she had taken it upon herself to cross one boundary you held dear. She touched your stuff, your art stuff. 

You were hunched over your various research notes - a mix of library printouts and battered textbooks, working on one of the essays that would be presented alongside it all. You had only just finished the second paragraph when water soaked the entirety of your desk. The paper immediately darkened, the book covers curled even more, and there was no way in hell you were going to save your essay.

A huge puddle formed across your work, and Marissa’s surprised giggle had you almost seeing red. You didn’t say a word, only staring at her for a few seconds. The urge to retaliate didn’t come in the form of words but rather actions. You picked up your plastic pallet full of almost dried-up paint and hurled it at Marissa’s chest, coating her white polo in various shades of green and brown. 

Her shrieking and lunging at you was the last thing you saw before being sent to Principal Higgins’ office by Mrs Gilmore - not before she made it clear that she “was so so disappointed in you”. Apparently, the whole situation had only been an accident. That may have been true, but it didn’t change the fact that Marissa laughed at you. That was the part that cut the deepest. Even when it wasn’t intentional torment, she still couldn’t say a simple sorry. 

The walk of shame to the office was silent. Your sneakers dragged along the floor, and you shoved your hands in your hoodie pockets. So much for keeping your head down. You’d made it to the final months of being in Hawkins and just had to lose your cool. Also, staining a rich girl’s white top - that was gonna bite you in the ass later. 

Outside of Higgins’ office, there was a small row of uncomfortable plastic chairs against the wall. Those chairs weren’t somewhere you wanted to find yourself. Since freshman year, you’d only seen bleeding boys, crying students and pissed-off parents sitting there. If they called your mom, you were so dead. 

Graduation could not come soon enough. It would be such a sweet relief to leave for art school out in Chicago. You were still dragging your feet when the school receptionist, Ms Prince, nodded in greeting and gestured to the chairs. 

A voice, a boy’s, piped up when you walked through the door, “the hell you doing here?” Your gaze snapped up to meet the wide, confused stare of Eddie Munson. 

Now that you thought about it, you had also seen Eddie sitting on those chairs a lot. He tended to lounge back outside of Higgins’ office - whether he was all beat up or just twiddling his thumbs. Everyone and their mother knew that the boy’s very existence was enough for teachers to send him to the principal's office. It surprised you that he actually showed up instead of going to hibernate in his van. 

You and Eddie were in the same grade and had been since he moved to Hawkins back in third grade. Back then, he was a weedy little kid with shaggy hair who everyone thought was mute or deaf because he never spoke. There had also been a rumour that he was actually a girl, but his parents had wanted a boy, and that’s why he had to live with his uncle. In retrospect, you realised that third graders could be fucking evil. Around sixth grade was when Eddie “the freak” came about. Eddie got taller than the other boys in your class and decided that he’d had enough of cowering in corners. You remembered the first day that he talked back to Ricky Galloway, the ringleader of the bullying. 

Admittedly, Eddie’s comeback to Ricky wasn’t anything amazing; it was some snarky comment about the school’s baseball team always losing. Eddie promptly had an entire lunch tray poured over his head, but he had that manic smile on his face. The smile that made everyone uncomfortable. The smile that made people scared of him. 

Eddie was the antithesis of what you wanted for your last few months in education. So, you ignored his confused question and sat down a few chairs away from him. Talking the town pariah would likely only get you into deeper shit. Your attention turned to a loose thread on your grey hoodie, twirling it around your fingers. The quiet was actually really uncomfortable, but you weren’t going to change that. 

“You okay?” Eddie’s voice cut through the hum of the fluorescent lights above you. He really couldn’t sit still or keep quiet for more than a minute. It wasn’t that he was annoying - you found him strange in an intriguing way. But you just weren’t in the mood to talk at any length. Besides, he didn’t know you.

“Yeah. ‘M fine.” You sighed, eyes still focused on fiddling with the thread. 

“Then how come you’re here? You’re like one of the super quiet girls.” Eddie pressed, also fidgeting like you. He was playing with the heavy, silver rings on his right hand. You’d noticed his eclectic taste in jewellery as it evolved - the pig head ring was actually kind of cool. 

You appreciated that Eddie was still nice, even after curating his infamous title and reputation. He was only the mean and scary dude when it was called for. It was more of an armour rather than his actual personality. 

“Got in an argument with someone in class.” The thread broke away from the seam on your hoodie. God fucking damn it. “Gilmore sent me straight here.”

“The art teacher?!” Eddie sputtered, his voice growing up an octave and making you jump. “Shit, what’d you do? You gotta be her favourite for sure. You shiv someone with a brush?” 

Normally, Eddie’s attempts at lightening the mood wouldn’t have bothered you. It was just him trying to seem less scary. But you were sitting there being reminded of the fact that you were the favourite of the artsy kids. You were one of the super quiet girls, and you had snapped. Hit your boiling point, and it wasn’t quite finished yet.

“What? Because I’m the weird little art girl, so I can’t possibly just argue with someone? Is that it?” You spat, finally turning in your chair to meet Eddie’s wide gaze. “Or, or, no, is it because I’m quiet? Being quiet isn’t because I want to be. It just makes everything easier. You might want to give it a try sometime.” That final comment tumbled from your lips before you could fully think about it. Eddie didn’t deserve to be talked to like trash when he was just trying to be friendly. You took a deep breath, deciding to apologise and explain yourself better, but a snort cut you off. 

Which grew into a full-body laugh. Not like the crazy cackle he did at the basketball team across the cafeteria. This laugh had his eyes wrinkle at the corners and an unrestrained smile worm its way across his face.

You hadn’t had or said anything even a little funny. You’d nearly ripped his damn head off. “Wh-what - am I that pathetic?” Eddie tried to contain his barks of laughter, pressing them down into more of a giggle. No one would ever believe you if you said that you’d seen Eddie Munson giggle.

“Nah, not pathetic at all.” He sighed, finally catching his breath and wiping at his eyes. “I get chewed up by everyone here every day. But, you know, you’re the first person to do it and actually make a decent point.” 

“What do you mean? I basically just told you to shut up.”

“Well, yeah, but you said it in a weird way, and you’re right. Shutting up is easier.” Eddie’s eyes softened as he let his head fall back against the bullet board behind him. A small smile remained on his lips as he went back to fiddling with his rings. You sat in stunned silence, unsure whether or not to keep the conversation going. He’d be well and truly put in his place by you snapping at him, but now you wanted him to talk again. Eddie always spoke in a somewhat cryptic and odd way. You assumed it was because he saw the world a little differently from most people.

“Wasn’t weird, just very direct… and a little mean. Sorry about that. It’s been a shitty day.” You confessed, bringing one of your knees up onto the chair to rest your chin on. Shooting Eddie a tight-lipped smile was the best you could offer, in addition to an apology. 

Another snort came from him; it wasn’t in malice. He was genuinely a bit amused by you. “Thought we were giving quiet a try?” 

“God, you suck, man.” You breathed out a laugh. It was so fast that Eddie nearly missed it, but it caught in his ears and rang through his head. The icy exterior that you were putting up had started to be chipped away - not quite at melting point. “Right, here’s a question, why are you here?”

“Oh, just the Wednesday usual,” Eddie stated matter of factly. “Breathed too loud in math.” Part of you knew that his answer was going to be some degree of teachers being assholes. In junior year, you’d watched Eddie, full of the cold, be marched out of Physics because he kept sneezing. He didn’t even try to defend himself when it was something he couldn’t help. Eddie just dragged himself out into the hallway, waiting to be told off.

“And - and I made eye contact with Gina Lawson.” He added, beginning to speak more with his hands. “That girl hates me. I think she’s convinced by all that cult leader crap that goes around.” Eddie shrugged, trying to brush off the knowledge that his very presence had made a girl so uncomfortable. He had fun when it came to messing with guys who thought they were God’s gift but scaring girls always made him feel a little gross.

“Nah, Gina thinks your trailer is kitted out with furniture made from cheerleader skin.” You joked. “Way worse than just the cult stuff.” You had fully turned in your chair towards Eddie. Talking to him was actually helping you feel a little better about everything. His lightheartedness allowed you to have a much-needed cooling-off period. 

“Huh, that one’s news to me, actually.” Eddie beamed like he was pleasantly surprised by this new stain on his reputation. In your mind, you could imagine him doing a paraphrased version of that one Sally Field speech on one of the cafeteria tables, “I can’t deny the fact you hate me!” 

“Yeah, the girls have upped the ante with you. The skin furniture and blood drinking are the locker room favourites.” Last week before gym class, you had overheard a few girls talking about Eddie and “his cult”. It was like the guy was some kind of vampiric leper that also ate puppies on the weekend. You had to wonder if people could actually hear themselves talking about Eddie. Every rumour and claim was more outlandish than the previous week’s. 

“See, that’s how I know it’s all made-up shit.” Eddie grinned, pointing a finger at you. 

There he went again with his odd way of speaking. Truthfully, you found yourself enjoying the fact that he could keep a conversation going so smoothly, if not a bit strangely. “What part? Is blood drinking your hard limit?” You giggled. 

Giggling wasn’t something you were really known to do. Especially in front of a guy. Wednesday was panning out to be fucking bizarre. 

“The blood is for the sacrifices. Obviously.” Eddie said snarkily. You feel him implying “duh”. “You know how hard AB+ is to come by these days? That’s the man downstairs’s favourite.” You had to give Eddie a lot of credit for being able to commit to a bit. If anything, though, you were actively encouraging him to keep it going. This was the most you’d laughed in a while. 

“It’s AB- that’s the rare type.” You interjected. Catching Eddie slightly off guard if his curious look was anything to go by. He did this thing where he tilted his head like a confused shaggy dog. “AB+ is pretty common. It’s negative that’s the hard to find one. My mom’s a nurse, so yeah.” Your voice trailed off slowly. He didn’t ask about why you’d said that. You shouldn’t have just shared the information. Eddie didn’t care. You had probably ruined the bit; you never were the best with jokes.

“Learn something new every day, huh?” Eddie smirked. He had also shifted in his chair to face you fully. “You ever think about joining a cult? We’ve only got one other girl, Abby, and zero medical knowledge between any of us.” 

His response took you aback for a few seconds. Eddie met your awkwardness head-on and with encouragement. 

“Hmm, tempting. Can I be the official pentagram artist?” You asked. The air of comfort that now filled the stuffy waiting area outside Higgins’ office was a welcome change. Maybe facing the principal - and then your mom later - wouldn’t be so hard. 

The big, almost goofy smile you had become familiar with in the last few minutes appeared on Eddie’s face again. You weren’t entirely sure why he was smiling and laughing with you so much. The laughter was usually directed at you. But he would have understood that better than anyone. Eddie had the town church group ready to throw him in the lake to see if he was a witch at a moment's notice.

“If there’s anyone who gets to take that title away from me, it’s gonna be you.” Eddie asserted. “I remember seeing some of your stuff before. Like that one - the picture of the lake last winter when it nearly froze over. That was yours, right?” 

How did he know that was your work? You hadn’t put a name on it when Mrs Gilmore insisted on displaying it outside her class. Your dad had let you swipe his good camera for the day since you needed to find some artistic inspiration around Hawkins. The town was very much lacking in any form of aesthetic intrigue, so you marched yourself into the surrounding woods. It was a really cold winter last year, and as Eddie reminded you, the lake had the perfect layer of glittery ice and frost over it. The backdrop of leafless trees and the brilliant, crisp blue sky made for a gorgeous contrast and arguably one of the best paintings you’d ever done. 

A painting that Eddie remembered fondly. 

“Yeah, that one was me. How’d you know that, though? I didn’t let Gilmore put my name near it.” You questioned, filled with curiosity now that Eddie was deciding to fully let his mean and scary mask slip away. 

Eddie’s eyes widened suddenly, and his jaw twitched. He knew you hadn’t put your name on it, but he thought you would have at least forgotten that tiny detail. Now he had talked himself into a corner that you had him pressed into - with no escape other than the plain truth.

“That art contest we had in middle school, eighth grade. You won it with that drawing of big cleaning in the woods near the trailer park.” Eddie admitted, back to fidgeting slightly, but this time with the ends of his hair. “You paint trees and clouds the same way.” 

It was true; you did. Back in seventh grade, your art teacher caught onto your love for the subject and taught you neat little painting tricks for landscapes. To this day, tree trunks and every form of cloud was painted in that same style. It was a subtle little marker of your work. No more than some purposeful brush strokes, a bit of smudging and an ungodly amount of colour mixing. The fact that Eddie - the guy who you assumed didn’t even remember your name - remembered how you painted fucking bark was-

It was-

It just was. That was all your mind could string together from the information.

“I’m really surprised that you remember that. Like, no one’s ever noticed any of the little things I do.” You gaped, still in shock at Eddie’s words. “The way I do clouds is something that Gilmore fucking despises, actually. Says I shouldn’t use my hands so much.” 

“Well, that makes it even more sick.” Eddie smiled, knocking his knuckles against the chair between the two of you.

“You entered that art contest too, though, didn’t you?” You asked, raising your brows at the now shy boy beside you. You remembered that he entered, but you couldn’t remember what he had painted. 

Eddie was picking at the stray threads on his ripped jeans now. “Ah-ha, yeah. I did the gnarly-looking dragon painting. Had messed up wings and bloody teeth and everything.” He laughed nervously as he recalled his early attempt at art. Eddie had gotten a hell of a lot better with his drawing since then. 

“I actually really liked that one. You actually did something you thought was cool instead of just the standard fancy-schmancy art choices.” You reassured with a soft chuckle. “It was that other thing, though, yeah? Because it had two legs instead of four.”

Eddie was going to start getting dry eyes with how much his were widening that afternoon. First, you play along with his super mega satan blood cult schtick. Now, you remembered that his painting wasn’t of a dragon but a wyvern. A big difference that not many run-of-the-mill folks would know. A winged lizard thing was a dragon, end of story. Centuries-old folklore be damned. 

You stared as Eddie hastily started pulling off his leather jacket and heavily decorated denim vest. He was damn near ripping the clothing off so he could get to the patch of skin on his arm that might impress you a little. 

“What the fuck are do-” You started hesitantly. A guy started hauling his layers off. You’ll be a bit on guard even if said guy was Eddie - the apparent big softy.

“That drawing I did. I did a better one last year.” Eddie explained, down to his long-sleeved black t-shirt and quickly yanked one of the sleeves up. The majority of his arm was exposed before you saw it. On the back of his bicep was a hissing, scaly wyvern tattoo. “Can’t believe I forgot where I got the idea for this bad boy from.” He grinned, proudly thrusting his arm closer to you. 

You quickly leaned over the empty chair, itching the get a better look at his arm. Tattoos always interested you, and you planned to get one once you got to Chicago next year. They were still illegal to get in Indiana, but it didn’t surprise you even a little that Eddie was covered in ink.

“Dude. You drew that?” You chirped, grabbing Eddie’s arm and moving it so you could see the full wyvern. “This is fucking cool! Did you do the shading and detailing too?” 

Eddie could feel a distinct, yet somewhat foreign, heat crawling up his neck. You had his arm in a firm grip, which was skin-to-skin contact. He was eighteen; sue him. He nodded enthusiastically to your artistic questions about that particular tattoo and if he had others. 

Neither of you took notice of principal Higgins exiting his office to call one of you inside. He stood there, tiredly watching two of the oddest children he had ever met bonding over illegally done tattoos. After about thirty more seconds of observation, Higgins cleared his throat loudly, causing you and Eddie to flinch back into your seats. 

“Good afternoon, students.” Principal Higgins greeted coldly. “Munson, you first. Get moving.” He gestured for Eddie to follow him as he floated back into his stuffy little office. It stank of stale cigarettes and cheap air freshener - to try and cover the cigarette smell.

Eddie raised his eyebrows at you and gave you a little wave as he stood up - collecting his various layers of jackets as he went. You weren’t entirely ready to have your interaction with Eddie Munson finish there. 

“Hey?” You whispered, waving your hand to get his full attention. “Good luck in there.” 

Eddie only snorted and shot you that genuine toothy grin you had started to like quite a lot. He pointed into Higgins’ office, then at himself, then mimed a noose around his neck. All of it done with a mischievous glint in his warm brown eyes. 

You giggled again. Eddie “the freak” Munson was the first person to make you giggle. 

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x reader fluff #eddie munson fluff #my writing #fluff #fic #eddie

[thesweetnessofspring]

FIRST PARAGRAPH OF ALL TIME.

I'm pretty sure this is where I learned the power of alliteration with "that fool of a fairy" hitting us right off the bat. And I love how Ella's voice comes out straightaway here: her snarky remarks about Lucinda and painting the picture of how she imagines all of this happened. I love the rhythm of this whole thing, too. Gail has a gift for this kind of writing that pops up throughout the book.

The way Lucinda's intentions are given right away: she meant to give a blessing, but she ended up giving a curse. So often adults try to give "blessings" to the children in their lives, but the intention doesn't matter. It becomes a curse. And the thing is, the "gift" wasn't for Ella, it was for her mother which Ella describes here as Lucinda "shaking her head sympathetically at Mother." Ella was crying for any number of reasons as a newborn baby. Was she too cold? Hungry? Colicky? We don't know. From what we know of Eleanor and Mandy, they were certainly trying their best to calm her. And I certainly can't blame them if they were getting frazzled or anxious. But instead of asking, "hey, what can I help with? Do you want me to look after Ella while you rest? Do you want me to get anything you might need?" Lucinda instead takes it upon herself to clear up the problem not by getting at the source of Ella's reason for crying, but ending the crying itself. Crying is vital communication for a literal hour-old baby and Lucinda took away her communication, her voice, her choice. While we do not have fairy curses, many parents come up with this same solution: Just stop crying, stop whining, stop being mean, stop fidgeting, stop, stop, stop.

Ella shows the horror of letting that attitude go too far.

#ella enchanted #gail carson levine #spring reads ella

[wetcatspellcaster]

Do you have any advice on how to craft pretty descriptions? I find myself loving how pieces still stuck in your teeth is written and being obsessed with just how vivid your descriptions paint it

hi anon! thank you for the compliment, I really appreciate it! I don't consider description to be a particular strength of mine so I'm very flattered that people have found something to enjoy in my work, more than anything :D

I'll do my best to answer your question!

How I approach descriptions! - under the cut!

I tend to only go into extreme detail for essential things. Often, unless a setting is important, a few details (the colour, the vibes, the size) are all that are needed for then the reader's imagination to fill in the rest. This makes an allowance for you to go ham on what is important, and in turn also signals to the reader what should be important to them. If you say the room is white but then spend a paragraph describing the person in it, they know the person is what is important, not the room. Think of description as a way of signposting and determining focus.

Describing around something, or using description to avoid focusing on the action, can sometimes perform the inverse of this - why is the character focusing so intently on this meaningless detail, rather than the matter at hand? Are they, mayhaps, avoiding something in the room? This tip bought to you by Rosalie, the 2nd most unreliable narrator after Astarion.

You want a mixture of short sentences and complex sentences, so that the description doesn't interrupt the pacing of the wider scene. Sometimes, you just need to state something simple, e.g. 'the room was blue' and then that avoids a paragraph describing the room as blue that interrupts the action. Pieces is a weird fic for this bc there are whole chapters that are just exploration, so I had to be descriptive to generate pace, when often all it does is undercut it. But in scenes where shit is actually happening, I can just say "they were in an office" and that's basically all that's the description that is needed. What's more important is they're about to fuck in that office.

Be careful of too many overextended metaphors or similes. Everyone has their bandwidth and patience for purple prose. In my experience, less is more. I'm honestly sure my writing is purple prose, for some people, and this is me being restrained. So basically, save your metaphors for when they really matter. Use one per thing you're describing, at most (less, when also using the rule above).

Alternatively, you can make a simile into an understated metaphor without using many words. Instead of 'the ceiling looked like ribs', 'Rosalie walked down a corridor feeling like she was being swallowed into the belly of a dragon' I can just say 'the ribs of the ceiling' and 'they were led into the bowels of the mansion". Single words can create an image, without being florid or labouring the point.

Descriptions tend to circulate around the visual - a colour, a pattern, a facial expression, the beauty of a space, the visible contents of a room, etc. (we all love knowing what pretty clothes our blorbo is wearing). but descriptions that focus on sensation are also my go-to. Yeah, use all the five senses for variety, etc., but stating how the space/person/item makes the person feel tailors the experience of the setting to that character, specifically, and makes the reader more immersed in their perspective.

Use things you yourself have experienced. This tip bought to you by: Rosalie getting knocked unconscious by Wish, after her author had just been under general anaesthetic for the first time! Rosalie getting panic attacks, after her author experienced somatic symptoms of anxiety! Rosalie going to live by the sea, after her author went on holiday to the Scottish Coast! I am one of those neurodivergent people who catalogues a feeling as I'm feeling it - you don't have to be like that. But if you use stuff you or someone close to you has personal experience of, it feels realer - what do you experience, when you feel fear? What's a landscape or setting you remember vividly? etc.

If it lies outside your experience or expertise... read. Read extensively, and in the genres you like or want to emulate. I read a lot, I highlight and annotate books I read, underlining descriptions I enjoyed, ESPECIALLY on kindle so I can find them later. It will teach you fun and unusual descriptions... it will also teach you the established shorthands. If you've never had a panic attack, how are panic attacks signalled in fiction? Using a trope is so totally valid, and often helpful for getting the reader on the same page as you. It's ok if you're using a cliché, if the cliché serves you.

Finally... be a little silly with it! Take risks! Use weird descriptors. Use odd metaphors. Use your description to make jokes, so it's not just a boring stage direction! Description can feel dull sometimes, bc people don't use it to do anything except set the scene. If your description is doing other things - being funny, telling the reader something about the pov character's voice or how their mind works, creating an odd image that sticks in the person's brain - this makes it more enjoyable to read. In these cases, not only is it just providing cues for the reader to understand where the character is or what they're doing, it contributes to the overall experience of the story!

Hope any of that helps lmao. x

#asks #anons #writing tips

[pastafossa]

Hello Pasta! I'm wanting to get into writing fanfiction. I'm having a hard time getting started and not feeling embarrassed at the idea of posting it. I don't really know where to start or how. I have adhd, so motivation and not getting distracted like a cat are not my strong suits. Any tips and suggestions on getting started?

As a writer with severe and currently untreated ADHD whose brain will happily chase leaves down the street when I should be doing something important, I feel you, anon. I'm happy to give tips and suggestions!

So the feeling embarrassed is, imo, the hardest part to overcome in the beginning. It is your biggest wall. The lingering cultural stigma against fanfic certainly doesn't help. But the good news is, I don't know anyone who wasn't nervous and embarrassed the first time around. It's normal. And half of it is... literally just about Trying To Do The New Thing. Nobody wants to be 'bad' at something, and unless someone's a prodigy, their early stuff won't be perfect in the same way that the first time someone tries to paint a picture, it's usually pretty wonky. The difference between trying the new thing or walking away, is whether or not you see it as a learning experience. If you're learning, you're allowed to make mistakes. I've used the gaming metaphor before because it works: consider yourself a level 1 writer. Your armor is mismatched. Your sword is blunt. Your only hope of leveling up is stabbing rats for 6 hours. And that's ok, because everyone starts at level 1. Even me! My early stuff was riddled with mistakes, wonky phrasing, awkward structuring, and garbled plotlines, because I'd never tried to write before. So grasp onto your sword, and remind yourself that it's ok to make mistakes.

To fight the cultural stigma embarrassment, take a look at the List of Star Trek novels list. It's a mile long. Try scrolling through; it'll take a while. You know what all that is? That's fanfiction. It's fic, written by people who love the universe and want to tell more stories inside that verse. Paradise Lost? Bible fanfic. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar? RPF. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? AU fanfic. So much in the world is fanfic, and you're allowed to write it, just like everyone else.

For how to start, I'd advise looking at prompt or trope lists and choosing one you love! Something that sparks your creativity, whether that's the Cuddle for Warmth trope or a Snowball Fight prompt! The key is choosing something nice and concise when you're starting, since ideas like those are easier both to start and to finish. As you learn, you'll get the hang of longer works, but short helps so much in the beginning, especially when you're trying to keep your ADHD motivation going long enough to get it done.

Speaking of beginnings - a lot of writers get stuck on beginnings. And that's fair, because sometimes beginnings are boring and unnecessary. Some good advice I got? Consider starting in the middle! If we use, say, the Snowball Fight prompt, then there's no reason to start with Character A waking up and seeing the snow and getting dressed. Try jumping right to the fun part: them out in the snow, walking with Character B, and both of them now in the perfect position for banter to morph into the snowball fight itself.

If you're unsure how to literally make a paragraph happen, sometimes what you can do (and what I still sometimes do!) is essentially start with listing what needs to happen in that paragraph: 'Jane picks up a snowball. Jane squints at Matt. Jane throws snowball at his face.' Once you've written everything out (the whole fic), come back and add details paragraph by paragraph: sensory info, more specific words, adjectives. Which is how the paragraph becomes something like, 'Jane quietly scooped up a handful of glittering snow, narrowing her eyes at Matt in thought for only a brief second before rearing back and launching it at his face.' This is also essentially what my editing process looks like (which some people noticed when I accidentally left an unedited paragraph right above the edited paragraph in one chapter of TRT!). You can literally go through this process for the entire fic, starting with an outline (basic list of events) which you then break down into basic sentences (rough paragraphs) and then go back in and add details (editing process discussed above).

ADHD tip - distractions: first, have an area you devote to writing. Try to write there as often as you can, and make it a happy space! Your brain needs to learn this is the 'writing area' so it knows exactly what to do when you sit down. Make sure you have what you need nearby so you don't have to wander off - I have everything from hand lotion, a candle, chapstick, tissues, water, and fidget toys nearby. Consider using something like noise canceling headphones - I have a pair I use to block out sounds and play my TRT playlist for me while I write, so it's harder to get distracted by outside noise.

ADHD tip - fidgeting: I often reward my brain for every hour of writing by getting up to move around, stretch out. Sometimes I walk some loops around the house, or I go outside and chase the dog a little, hug a tree, the usual 'YAY NEW STIMULI' for my brain. I've found giving myself those regular moments of activity helps a huge amount.

Alternatively, if you're hyperfixating on writing, ride that train to the fucking end of the line. This is one of our strong points as writers. It won't happen every time, and you cannot rely on it occurring, but sometimes you reach this magical space where all else falls away. I've had nights where I fell into that mindset and pumped out 15k words in one long session (keep snacks and water nearby, otherwise you will forget to eat or drink - I've gone roughly 6-7 hours without eating or drinking before while in The Zone).

I drink a shit-ton of caffeine to make my brain go zoom, do with that what you will.

So your mileage may vary, but this generally works for both ADHDers and non-ADHDers: training your brain to focus on writing is essentially like training for a marathon. If you try to run a 50k on day one? You're fucked. Start with a goal of small word counts for each writing session. If you go longer? Great! But smaller goals in the beginning that are manageable are more useful. Instead of saying, 'I AM GOING TO WRITE 10K WORDS THIS WEEK/TODAY!', try, 'Every day I write 200 words.' Cause 200 words? You can do that! That's small! Enjoy your success and reward yourself, give your brain that sweet sweet dopamine reward at hitting that word goal. And as you go, and regularly start meeting that goal, you can consider adding a little more, bit by bit, but try to keep your goal achievable. Because writing a little is always better than writing nothing.

And above all... be kind to yourself. There's always someone out there who wants to read your story, no matter what that looks like.

I hope these tips help! It's definitely a challenge even for non-ADHDers to get into writing, and adding our unique brains into the mix can get a little wild, but it's definitely doable, and it's absolutely worth the effort to see if writing fic is something you want to do.

#ask response #writing tips #writing advice #adhd writing tips #writing #writing fanfic #fanfic tips #my brain is a massive tangled snarl of adhd impulses so I'm especially happy to give any advice #that might help you write! #everything is fanfic so don't be embarrassed #everything is inspired by something #unless you are a time traveler who is also a cave person who was the first person to paint some story pictures on a wall somewhere #everything after that was just fanfic

[neteyamsilly]

Let me just say that your writing is absolutely immaculate and it should be praised 24/7. You're amazing!!! The way you've managed to write the characters to the point where I'm like "damn this could be canon" and it makes everything so much more easier to picture too.

I honestly feel so sorry for her (the reader) especially when she achieved something so great, in record time, and was at an all time high only for her to be hit by a wave of reality when she realised she was all alone and no one was there to see her do it. It was very realistic, I'm sure many of us have experienced that feeling before, of doing something we finally deem as amazing only to have no one there to celebrate such an achievement and it really had me hurting for her 😭.

Now let's talk about how she did not want her father to see her injury, not because she didn't want to worry him but because she didn't want him to get angry at her which is so telling of how jake has been treating her 😢 honestly her bleeding out in front of him is the cruel punch in the face that Jake 🖕🏻🤠🖕🏻 deserves. The fact that she thought he was mad when he told her to be quiet but really it would've been to just save her energy so she could stay awake and that being the last thing she heard???? yeah im crying from the pain!

I absolutely love her relationship with her mum, it's so heartwarming to think about but also so harsh on Neytiri, not only was her child dying out in her arms but she missed out on a rite of passage the whole family should've been there for. Considering we know Neytiri is very traditional that must hurt really bad to have missed out on such a big ceremony. (AND I JUST READ YOUR RECENT POST HER SPREADING THE BLOOD LIKE THE PAINT IS SO MORBID I LOVE IT)

Now the relationships between the siblings....honestly i have mixed feelings but it's like good mixed feelings ✌🏽😭 neteyam is a sweetheart and it makes so much sense that they understand one another, being the oldest. The way he panicked when he couldn't find his sister 😔 there's so much pressure on him too and it just feels good knowing they have each other. I'm honestly really interested in the relationship between the siblings, especially lo'ak and the reader. Because they are literally the same, other than the fact that lo'ak knows when to go quiet 😶‍🌫️ you'd think they'd bond over that but instead he was just taking the piss out of her and excited for whatever punishment was heading her way. And she did get punished to the point where she's dying. Idk I'm just so interested in the sibling dynamics, I think you did mention a few times that she usually cuts in whenever her siblings are getting scolded at (probably lo'ak lmao) which is so sweet to think about. How she doesn't want her siblings going through what she has to. The difference in treatment especially for her, compared to Kiri and Tuk, I'd be seething 🥊🤡 because that is so shady. Even if she had a small amount of resentment towards them I honestly couldn't fault her because you can't help it when you see that difference.

Honestly I love this family that you've built. And I'm so interested in seeing how/if this conflict will resolve. Please don't let it be resolved within a paragraph 😧 the daddy issues are too strong to be resolved with something simple.

IM AWAITING THE EVENTUAL "I SEE YOU" THATS GONNA HURT IK IT BUT ITS WHAT SHE DESERVES!!!! Imagine him being like "I see you, sweetheart" (cue my immediate sobs)

Also I am so sorry idk how this went on for so long but like whewww sorry if this got boring. Thank you for this amazing fic!!! I can't wait for pt.4!!

- Nini ✌🏽🤡

NINIIIII WELCOME BACK!!! THE LENGTH OF THIS ASK YUHHH 😭😭🥺

So you think the characters are close to canon? you can picture them actually acting this way? I have passed the trial of "my blorbo would never say this [clicks out of page]" ?

thank you..... thank you.............. never a bigger compliment than that.... ah.....

AND I GET BROWNIE POINTS FOR THE IKNIMAYA SCENE BEING REALISTIC? Damn ur spoiling me today!!!! It's such a heart-sinking sensation, really. to be alone in a moment you've looked so forward to all your life, expecting the pride of your family and finally having your moment - but in the end you're on your own, and you've chosen it to be that way because you want to prove yourself & are trying to achieve that high you've always imagined knowing it won't be like that. Idk i have a lot of feelings about that 🤸🏻‍♀️🕳

AND YEAH!!!!! Jake totally told her to be quiet to conserve her energy but he couldn't relay it to her . in his head he's focused on how much she's bleeding and if it's the liver or the spleen and no na'vi biology is different and how long has she been bleeding and it's all a chaos cluster that he cant hang on to any solid thought. its gonna sink in later for him, god. you guys might get bored from the thought process parts but i love writing them 😭

also nini, are you british or anywhere related by any chance? "mum" 🤨🤨

BUT, ABOUT NEYTIRI....... she has me in my feels,, like, this is happening because reader went out for her iknimaya BEING TAUNTED BY JAKE . she bled out BECAUSE SHE DIDNT WANT TO TELL JAKE. She told him to fix this every single time and he didnt, thinking it wasnt urgent and physically protecting his family had to come first, to him, he has to keep them alive first and they can handle whatever come their way together. and now this incident has proven how wrong that mindset was. as her mother, neytiri is beyond wrathful, but as his mate, she is disappointed and miserable. not only has she missed her child's most important moment she wanted to put in her songcord she may lose her for it. she has had enough 😭 and the blood paint is going to be so OOF....

NOW ONTO THE SIBLING DYNAMICS! ABt lo'ak and reader,, like, lo'ak can be a cheeky bitch because they're so close, you know? they havent emotionally bonded as neteyam and reader did because lo'ak would play it off whenever feelings are involved at that stage in life but he likes his sister bc she knowingly wants to take all the fire directed towards him bc she wants to throw hands with her father 😭 he's like ur generic younger brother you fight over your belongings a lot, but he's also like jake, he'll do something in the fic that im looking forward to see you guys react to! 🤠

and dont worry, in this house we like angst, you know i'm not gonna let you guys off easy LMAOOOOOO THAT I SEE YOU SCENE IS GOING TO BE 😙🤏🏻

AND NO, THANK YOU FOR THE ASK, have an amazing day!

#irma mirma ask mask #irmanons: nini

[floweroflaurelin]

I'm sorry if this is rude, and you totally don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but i'm curious - why in the world are you using the name "flower of Laurelin" for a as far as i can tell 100% mcyt art blog? Like, no judgement or anything, but it just genuinely throws me for a loop every single time lmao

Hahahaha!

So I made this blog back in 2018? I think? And I had every intention of making it a Silmarillion blog. I made a lot of Silm art just for me while I was a teenager and I actually still make Silm art for school projects! I called myself Flower of Laurelin because Arien, the Maia who carries the sun, is my favourite character in the whole Tolkienverse. (She has one whole paragraph talking about her.)

Also in 2018, both The Dragon Prince and She Ra and the Princesses of Power started airing on Netflix and took over my whole brain and I instead started painting fanart for those two shows and posting it here, and they were all fairly popular paintings. This was during the gap year I took before heading to university in 2019 and it really helped me develop my art style! I realized that since my style is more like realism I could adapt cartoons in a really fun and fresh way. And I was always like oh well I’ll get to the Silmarillion stuff soon… And then I went to university and did Illustration projects on the Silmarillion, as I’d always planned to do, and I completely forgot my Tumblr art blog, which was very infrequently posted to until 2021.

Then when I was in university I started getting excited about Minecraft’s updates because I hadn’t played since 1.13 and cool things were coming up and so I typed “Minecraft” into YouTube and found Pixlriffs’ Survival Guide. And then I got into Hermitcraft bc Mumbo and Iskall would show up in the recommended. And then Pix joined Empires I got into the whole Empires crew, and by then I was getting burnt out of never making art just for me and only for assignments and I took an hour out to sketch the Copper King during class, which I posted, and people liked it! And Pixlriffs himself emailed me that same day to say how much he liked it! And then I was like okay well there’s a niche here—there’s little more cartoony than a Minecraft skin so my style would work great here, and wow it turns out there are a lot of people into this too! A lot of other awesome artists! And my work got more and more attention until I got to work with the CCs on their series and now I’m a mcyt blog.

TLDR; I was supposed to be a Silmarillion blog because I used to make a lot of Silmarillion art, but in the time since making my URL I ended up getting into other fandoms instead by accident! And now I’m a mcyt blog even though I’ve kept my original URL because I like it a lot 😋

#thanks so much for the question! I know it’s a bit confusing ahahaha #ask #anon

[whatstruthgottodowithit]

So I just watched Priscilla. And my overall thought is that I can see why it hasn’t made its money

It was always going to paint Elvis in a bad light I’d assumed that before going in (don’t come and tell me it’s what he acted like 1. I know and 2. If were getting into that we’d have to take into account the stuff they left in Cilla admitted were embellished or lies)

Not thinking about that it was just very bland. And I know that her life was lonely and boring at Graceland but it didn’t even make that apparent, not very well at least.

It felt as though they’d decided to cram the whole book into two hours instead of writing a story in line with the book. Like they wanted to get everything as told without any deviation and a lot of the time it just felt out of place because the book had paragraphs of context where the film only used the dialogue from it.

For example when Vernon tells her to leave the office we just see that. There was no context of her going to the office every day because they are the only ones around, definitely the only women, only to be told she was distracting them. That would’ve helped show how isolated she was.

Or when Elvis pins her down in the hotel (which she then changed to say didn’t happen like that) it’s completely out of nowhere because Mike Stone isn’t even mentioned. You see him sure but it’s never made apparent.

It feels like it was a lot of nuance which unless you know the story very well can be lost.

It also made no sense to end where it did. The books ends at his death and there was room to do that too. To show that even then she still loved him but she’d fully thrived in a new life after the divorce.

I just feel it could’ve been told so much better.

#my posts #Priscilla

[raccoonfallsharder]

I’m asking as someone to fears critique, but if you could get advice from the fic writers you admire/like, would you

hey nonnie ♡♡♡ i’m not sure if you’re the same anon who asked something similar yesterday but regardless, i will answer here. i wanted to take some time to think about this and i am entertaining my sister/the goddamn love of my life this weekend so im a bit distracted but HERE GOES (behind the cut to save everyone’s sanity. a little)

writing is VERY personal. imo each person’s process and style are distinct and different AND SHOULD BE. the best writing is an extension of self. ((this also means that OF COURSE criticism can be scary for a lot of writers - or artists - because the whole creative process is wrapped up in identity, in like….plucking the fruit off our branches and saying “here. i made this to share. it comes from sunlight and soil and rain and ME and I really hope you like the taste??” - all this to say you’re not alone in your vulnerability && nervousness))

so i think there is a difference between asking for advice & asking for critique and you should be very careful && explicit about what you ask and from who

advice is great to ask from writers you admire. & i would absolutely ask any of the writers i admire for advice. but imo advice looks like:

What writing habits do you (my fave author - let’s call her SunshineDaydream) engage in that you would recommend to others? (common examples include “write even if it’s bad!” or “set aside time to write each day”)

I love how you do that one specific thing I love (write excellent metaphors, paint a scene, channel a voice, whatever). How do you do that? Do you have any tips for doing something similar? (MY process may still end up looking different from SunshineDaydream’s process, but it can be a good place to start)

advice is - how does SunshineDaydream do This Thing? What are her tips for tapping into that energy/mindset? (SunshineDaydream, how did you make that delicious goddamn pomegranate?)

critique is different. critique is “how can i improve this sample of my own writing/self in particular.” and favorite authors aren’t always the best at answering that question. SunshineDaydream makes amazing pomegranates but like??? You’re a plum tree??

if you want critique, you need someone who you trust as a reader (which still could be SunshineDaydream - but it’s a different skillset. could also be a beta or a writing instructor but also, not always) & if it feels really vulnerable and scary, set some groundrules. “can you read this? then i’m going to ask you some specific questions, if that’s all right.” decide what you want to know rather than ask for blanket feedback.

what worked well for you when you read this?

what was challenging for you as a reader? Is there something you think could make that easier?

i am having a hard time with this transition or the flow of these two paragraphs. What do you think?

Read this section - what feeling does it give you? okay, this is what i was trying to convey - how can i get you there as a reader?

does this word choice work? does this sentence makes sense?

what makes the tastiest plum, specifically?

you can scale your questions/requests for feedback as broad or as narrow as you need && have the capacity to accept in the moment (both things which may change from day to day which is FINE because some days are harder than others). AND just because you solicit critique (or advice) doesn’t mean you have to accept/take/use it

OH MY GOD I wrote you a fucking novel, which is not what you asked for SO SORRY fuck me. anyway:

i believe in you && i believe that the fruit you bear & share with others will be good, and that you can ask your fave writers for advice & your most trusted readers for critique but you will always in the end be the only plum tree in the garden

don’t stop making plums

people need plums

#MY writing advice is #babble incoherently & then hit post i guess #rfh asks #rfh writing advice #I can ride a metaphor to DEATH #sorry this answer took so long and is STILL such a goddamn MESS #people need plums #make plums

[elenakostyreva]

24.9.23 🌚 my contribution to @yughostlavia gloomy autumn challenge!

what i did today:

I wrote a poem. Actually, it was an absurd amount of obscure thoughts as prose. The idea I had was to print them out, and then cut them up, to create a new poem, or prose.

I got this idea from college when I was writing my thesis on Virginia Woolf & Gender Fluidity. In the editing process of a 10-page essay, my professor + advisor suggested to take one section of an essay, or merely one paragraph, and then cut it up into sentences. And then, re-arrange those sentences. What I noticed from this exercise, years ago, was the mind's attachment to already pre-made words, fragments, errors. Even if they are wrong, and can be better, in the mind...it has been complete, whole. So, the exercises detaches you and makes you reconstruct favorite sentences or ideas made.

You will be surprised how the mind attaches itself to phrases or sentences that have no significance, and may actually be the cause of confusion, arguing with yourself: "no, this is how it must be".

what i felt today:

I ended up crying: "I just want to be loved" at 4:53PM. I had my head on my lap, sitting on my chair, bent over. My dog moved from inside her crate to lick my nose, and when I turned away, she put her back to me, as if giving me space but still guarding me. I have noticed this before, when I do private things like in the bathroom or am washing my face and have my back turned to the door behind me, she will face her back to me, so that someone is watching, on guard.

how i loved today:

trying new ideas, even if I realize it was a mess in the end

painting hair with watercolor

learning something new, mastering something

feeling emotions, makes me human, vulnerable

being a woman, feeling pain of the menstrual, but also being the thing I kind of hate about being a woman

walking my dog, and on the way, grabbed The Stranger's magazine at Frye Art Museum only a few blocks from my apartment

discovered a new band: "Wynne", remembering when I used to discover obscure bands but lived farther away, and wondering why I don't do that anymore when I live closer so don't have to worry about a bus schedule to get back home

#art challenge #journal entry #my journal #gloomychallenge #studyspo #photography #artwork #diary entry #autumn aesthetic #gloomy weather #gloomy aesthetic

[craetor]

Death Note: Another Note (revisited)ー An in-depth analysis

*

Everything I don't go over concerning Misora or L is already documented here.

Definitely interesting how Ryuzaki isn't listed as an additional character. Strange and dangerous choice but okay

And a VERY intense opening line. God I fucking love the concept of BB.

This paragraph actually makes him seem more obscure than I assume most fans who portray him make him out to be. I like to think this isn't just intended for B's Ryuzaki persona but his entire life up to the point of the case's end, as the one untainted glance we get of 'B' apart from his motive. ("Bye-bye Angel" too. Was that intentional?)

Mello sounding like the bastardization of a christian mom when explaining "the difference between the Almighty and a shinigami"

Mihael "best dresser that died like a dog" Keehl. Hand to our hearts

I'm not even going to bother with setting up theories about how Mello even knew what Misora was doing before L first reached out to her or why L would've bothered to tell him, so, alas, it's just a book. It's a book and it needs basic story telling. But actually, making Mello the narrator sets up many plot holes which I'll probably refrain from pointing out. But you can just tell a story like it's a thing... You had your chance to expand on Mello, now it's the biker chick's turn. Just let it be a novel,

Beyond bby most people don't usually look at impersonal strategy murder and assume the least scandalous part of it/the victim's names as worthy title, sweety honeybee babygirl booboobear (ok i'm done..except probably not, prepare for more ahead)

(jk i'm aware he tried to plaster "BB" all over the case, not just the names. It does make sense that the media don't care about things like that, though)

Side note that I can't understand why they created a whole new character and then outright stated 'we won't tell you jack shit about them' (except then go on to do just that. Thanks, Mello)

Wait! L calls her sama.... (also bothered to do her the honors of tending to her background. Create that comfortable work enviroment, king)

B drugging all his victims before killing them could indicate several things: 1. He wanted to show off his smarts & resources, 2. It was one of several hints that the killings were purely strategic and no act of passion (like not cutting through the shirt, the locked room decision etc.), 3. That B is not a fighter. He didn't want to get into physical altercations with the victims, which could just as well mean that he simply didn't trust himself with such a task (we know that he, in fact, can fight somewhat, so that's either a shred-of-respect thing or strict perfectionism)

ALTHOUGH... Beyond is more skilled with weapons than muscle, taking a heavy bat (that he only utilizes when Misora proves a fierce opponent, swings it once and then retreats) and blackjack to ambush Misora. It could've been a caution move to not be in danger of having his mask undone in close combat but he seems a good dodger and rather quick on foot, making more sense of why he used clean, non-taxing methods of murder like stabbing or asphyxiation with a rope.

I'm actually going to encourage discourse about the intensive cleaning of crime scenes in the comments. People headcanon that B has OCD but it's more likely that it's another attempt at appearing "abnormal". It's a pretty large and extensive effort to clean every surface of an entire home, which makes this cleaning-impulse-picture Beyond tries to paint a more forged-seeming one. He also did not clean the blood at Backyard Bottomslash's scene, instead moving around it. The contradictionー if or if not intentionalー is kinda funny, I'll give him that. We need more 'overly committed but tired' Beyond (just noticed what i did with this one in particular..)

Man, i adore him.

L, too. Funny man, busy schedule.

Mello is like "I'll save the stories of this dead individual for another time" and it's his testament

Beyond saying this line actually heightens the likelihood of his generally clumsy pretense skills severely. There's absolutely no rhyme or reason as to why he'd respond this way apart from maybe seeming non-threatening, except this line would go completely against its very purpose, creating a double-negative & making him seem more dubious.. Or. He just doesn't give a fuck

L asking the question "was he cool?", by the way, is solely based off of the assumption that B trying to make himself look as freakish as possible would lead to him showing up as a caricature of him to steer the yoke L would send to where he needs them. It is not far-fetched, considering the 'LABB' choice, yet is still quite daring, which we should appreciate as a peak comedy moment in my opinion. I mean L could've just sent a guy to where Misora said they'd investigate next to arrest Beyond but he largely wanted the final room to prove B would lock himself in and also..maybe he thougt it was funny. Just a little bit. Swallowing his pride for the guy his position in the world traumatized to the point where he's planning suicide as part of a revenge act made L steer just a little bit in direction of "alright, let him do his thing". Anyway BB is hilarious and Misora is, unfortunately, obtuse due to avarage mental wellness. L is noticeably anxious but I know they flock at humor.

We have page 69 and the first pages of Opposition, which do the analyzing of other matters for me (everyone). And to be transparent: Good on you, canon, for pointing it out or whatever, but also... Fuck you-

From this point on throughout the main chunk of the book it can only be said that B relies exclusively on the fact that Misora does not tell L closer details of the investigation. It's quite impressive how safe he feels to even outright lead the investigation, even showing up with a pretty much unattainable copy of the crossword puzzle, knowing all books and patternless numbers by heart and even mentioning Misora's capoeira (P.138) although never having seen her practice it as Ryuzaki and instead knowing about it from the back-alley incident. Yeah. Also showing up pretentious & arrogant af and more power to him in all honesty

Alright, let's get to the promised practical stuff. Time to rant a bit about how LABB is written, because it would've been vastly better off without Mello as an all-knowing narrator. It makes the plot so obvious it's not even clear if they're trying to hide Ryuzaki's identity or not, since there's a big paragraph dedicated to explaining the connections given at the very end like it had been a secret. It's messy. It's not satisfying. The reverse psychology doesn't hit. But let's get to the thumb turn lock lock picking...

There are a couple ways to pick a thumb turn lock, in opposition to its key-only counterpart, making it less safe in mathematical terms of chance. The technique used by B, though, involved no pins or metal sticks to shove into its innards.

So... is this "simplified description to make it easier to understand" actually sensical?

Well, using even more words to disect this is unfortunate but here we are.

First off: I do not know how a nail with a full doll nailed to it can be "directly opposite the gap under the door". How large is the gap below that door for the thread to 'not touch it'? The explanation it comes with makes sense but the amounts of times Misora mentions that a "hole in the wall is waist-high" or 'across from the door handle' can be confusing. Thing is, the Wara Ningyo are nailed to different walls of the room. Granted, Mello doesn't say what kind of triangle the thread would form, but geometry jokes aside this whole set-up makes everything fall apart slightly for reasons to follow.

I believe what makes it so difficult to understand is that, by logic of this text, the doll at the east/west wall in relation to the door was ground-level in contrary to the one on the north wall, which was latch-level. This is weird though, as it would have pulled the latch forward instead of to its side. The correct position would need for the northern doll to be foot-level and the east/west one to be waist-level. But let us just overlook this crucial detail since there's exactly no picture of the kind of wonderful locks we're talking about. Again, the strange hight difference of the dolls is painfully telling of some greater trick but seemingly no suspicions were raised. But if this oh-so genius trick were to be discovered, B's whole 'they can't prove my suicide' aspect would crumble. There's a more than likely possibility that L could've made a case by just the fact that the case is plastered with "B"s. The 'L is After B.B.' (if someone were to argue it, in finicky fact, as double B) choice might have been able to be solved by extensive digging (which apparently paid off, since L was able to call Beyond by his full name when retelling this to Mello) or simply the philosophy that someone showing up mocking L (without even necessity to bring up his appearance but simply the name the all-knowing, highly suspicious, unlicensed detective with no track record went withー "L.L.") would've been most likely the salty runaway, B from Wammy's House, and therewith the killer and last victim.

But, at the ultimatum, if the locked room mystery were to be considered by the already relevant mantra of "the clue is not what's there, but what isn't", the now absent Wara Ningyo at the sideways wall would've been the simple and significant nail in the coffin.

So, in response to the question posed above: No. Not very sensical. But being so cocky to encourage trying it out is quite the move

*

And here we are. Thank you for reading. Feel free to ask any and all further questions below. I've gathered this largely to unwrap possibly scattered/unclear aspects of Another Note & am open to do more if needed. This book is sorta iconic with all its odd choices and flaws & I like talking about it

#my writing #death note #character analysis #death note another note #labb murder cases #spoilers #l lawliet #beyond birthday #naomi misora

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Hey so. its been a while. I havent had a lot of energy these past few weeks and when I did I didnt really wanna spend that energy on this bad book series, but its the weekend and its been wayyyy too long and I need to finish ACOMAF before shit starts falling out of my sieve of a brain. As always, I am motivating myself with the prospect of contuining to work on a proshot of the takarazuka production elisabeth after this, the 2014 flower troupe one specifically ^-^ or maybe I'll watch a fucked up black and white movie from the 20s thats two and a half hours long, we'll see

Today we're reading chapter 53, the precursor to The most infamous chapter 54. Im not gonna lie, I kinda forgot most of what happened last time. There was a mate reveal, Rhysand was being really pathetic which made him hot to me for the first time in about 600 pages of me knowing him, Feyre was super pissed so they sent her to the mountain cabin to cool off a bit and paint, i think thats it

is it just me or is it kinda weird that Feyre is fantasizing about green grass and flowers and flowing rivers when the NC so far has been defined by being a very wintery place. Like yeah, obviously they have seasons in the solar courts but like, theres a lot of mountains which means a lot of snow, its the most nothern court etc

And Feyre didnt like winter in the first book because she associated it with bad times at the cabin so that makes sense but idk. I feel like if youre retconning her so much already you could easily wrie something about how she actually likes winter now that she has the power to withstand it or something but no, sure, have her fantasize about very spring-y weather in the book where the spring court gets demonized to hell and back why not

'[Rhysand] would give me the money for my shop, for what I was offering would cost nothing. Maybe I would sell my paintings to pay him back the money. Because I wanted to do that under any corcumstance, soulmates or not.' I was gonna write something snarky about Feyre in ACOSF but then it hit me that shes never going to have financial independance from Rhysand ever again and now Im just sad and anxious for her

(sry, im too lazy to translate this whole paragraph rn) '[Rhysand and I would do a bunch of fun stuff that couples do.] Never again someones slave or whore.' Its so wild to me that shes saying all this about the guy who made her his slave and whore MULTIPLE TIMES AT THIS POINT. like hey sarah, do you think your readers dont remember all that? do you think constantly calling back to it will make them forget somehow

Ive seen some people describe this book as gaslighting and honestly, its not even that its just lying. this story is just a bunch of lies that keep contradicting or otherwise disturbing eachother because the person telling it isnt even a good liar

Okayyyyy this chapter was a lot shorter than anticipated can you tell i dont plan these out at all but i dont feel like doing more than this and also while I was reading i got a really good idea for an Anastasia AU for a different fandom im in and I keep getting distracted and I wanna start working on it as soon as possible. And also, I'd like to be focused when I finally read that most infamous of chapters, thank you and good afternoon

#flames and darkness liveblog #anti acomaf #anti sjm

[grandhotelabyss]

I guess they're about to learn this the hard way on Wikifeet, but the only thing worse than reading philosophy is reading contemporary popular political nonfiction. The past's popular political nonfiction, if it's ripened into a classic, is fine to read—often better than philosophy, in fact, hence my elevation of Emerson and Chesterton over the philosophers. But trying to sift through present-day material for the gems is too much of an opportunity cost. I had the patience for it when I was a kid but not now. I read so many of the Bush-era political books, for example, and what do I have to show for it? When's the last time you heard anybody deploy an insight gleaned from the once painfully au courant Verso volume, Afflicted Powers? Ironically, given how things turned out for all involved, the best of the W. books were probably Mark Crispin Miller's Frankfurt-School-inflected Bush Dyslexicon and Cruel and Unusual.

Anyway, I haven't done an ad on Tumblr in a while, and in another Xeet Anna K advocates "grandiose narcissism," so please let me renew my recommendation to Tumblr's apparently substantial Red Scare contingent of Portraits and Ashes, a novel I wrote in 2013, which foretold the whole Red Scare sensibility. In my later material, though, I have moved on thematically. (A paid subscription to my Substack gets you access to a post containing pdfs of my three prior novels, including Portraits and Ashes, as well as to my serialized novel-in-progress, the occult-themed American epic, Major Arcana.) I wrote my last Red-Scare-ish story, "Sweet Angry God," in 2015, three years before the pod debuted. You can read that story for free here. The opening paragraphs:

Apparently it began with a hate fuck. There was a dirtball café, no doubt collectively owned, a few blocks from the art school. He worked there, and she had been watching him for some months, maybe even her entire sophomore year. The first time she went into the place she noticed him, how hateful and stupid he was. Some kind of percussion-heavy music rumbled over the speakers, hissing with analogue static. She thought she felt the tuba thrum in her throat. Above the music she heard him talk to his co-worker as his face glistened in the espresso machine steam. He didn’t look at her, not even when his dirty fingernails grazed her palm with the change. “No, Romanian. It was a group, yeah, I mean they allied with Hitler. Not saying I’m defending them, but, I mean. They were pissed off that their culture was being violated by the modern west. Yeah, they hacked people’s heads off. Limbs. Like werewolves, man. Okay, it’s fucked up. But today you just push a button. Is that better? This is their marching music.” She kept her eye on him after that. Maybe he was dangerous. She would look over her laptop screen when he came out from behind the counter to wipe down the tables. He stomped around in careless bursts, like a toddler. He had a pervert’s goatee and wore bowling shirts stained at the armpits. When she saw his sneakers, so old they’d become fashionable again, she understood what “down-at-heel” literally meant. His body looked sinewy, a bad cut of meat. Stupid-ass white boy. Sometimes she checked certain books out of the library to read in front of him, anything by or about men ready for violence. Marinetti, Mao, Fanon, whatever. His eyes were always elsewhere. Men ready for violence unmade and remade the world. She just lived in it. She wondered if he didn’t want to just live in it. Her sophomore-year final project she called Men Ready for Violence. Blood-spatter paintings were arrayed around a screen showing various armies on the march. Their choreography contrasted with the chaos of the red paint. She loaded the artist’s statement with jargon, quotations from Klaus Theweleit and Judith Butler, so that her teachers didn’t call a shrink or a cop. Everyone was polite about it, one professor even enthusiastic. Her classmates looked at her strangely. Especially the girls. Then the semester was over. One week left before she had to come home to mamá. She sat in the café reading Ernst Jünger. He wiped down her table while she was still sitting at it, his face vacantly smiling, the dirt-nailed knob-boned fingers sinking in the washcloth’s soft folds. One week. What would a Romanian fascist do? She reached out and grabbed his wrist hard. Her face must have looked like it couldn’t believe what her hand had done. Her nails were red-stained with oil paint. He was looking at her nails and then turned to look into her eyes. He showed smoker’s teeth.

How did I know in 2015 that this type of young woman, then still immersed in pop Jezebel-style feminism, would soon be getting into aesthetic fascism? Because I'm not a philosopher. I can't afford to let logical argument block the truth.

#anna khachiyan #red scare #creative writing #mark crispin miller #sohrab ahmari #richard hanania #nonfiction #literature

[shizuu-chann]

I need to write my thoughts, so if you have no interest in Horizon: Forbidden West, then feel free to move along. No worries. But I have Thoughts about the Burning Shores DLC, more specifically the introduction of Seyka as a love interest. Spoilers abound; you've been warned. Also, not looking for a debate. I won't be debating. If you like Seyka and the romance, that's your business. I'm not here to change you mind. I'm just here to express my opinion.

Before anything else, let's address one thing: my opinion on this pair has absolutely nothing to do with it be a lesbian couple, or fuck's sake, Seyka's race. Anyone who knows me or has been following me for a while knows that none of that offends me, and I embrace diversity in all forms. So, for anyone inclined to do so, don't come at me in the comments/reblogs/tags trying to paint me like a villain because of my opinion on the plot and the romance itself as a plot device. Everyone knows this is the website where if you say ANYTHING negative about the above, there are going to be people who decide you're a bad person when you're not, and I don't feel like dealing with that.

Getting into it, I'm sure you could gather from the paragraph above the cut that I am not a fan of the Aloy/Seyka pairing. Seyka has grown on me a bit more since playing through the DLC a second time, but man do I think she makes a terrible first impression (and by "first," I mean the first time playing through the entire main story). I hate how she jumps down Aloy's throat for "keeping secrets" when she does the same thing, and I hate even more that Aloy gives a shit about how upset Seyka gets hearing about Nemesis coming to destroy life on Earth. Like, bitch, she asked. Don't get upset with the person who told you the truth when you asked for it, and don't feel somehow guilty about revealing the info when that's what the person literally wanted! To be fair to Seyka, she says something similar when she said "At least you were honest" when Aloy apologizes (again, why???) for "dropping that on her." So, there's that, I guess.

In general, I just think the whole romance was weird and out of place. If I had to choose between Seyka and no romance, I'd choose no romance. Personally, I ship Aloy with Avad. I really like Avad, I think he's cute and a good person, and I'd be interested to see how they would make that relationship work. Barring Avad, I like her and Erend, or even Talanah (Talanah's crush on Amadis notwithstanding). At least with any of those three, or even just Avad or Erend, there's history there. Aloy knows Seyka for, like, two weeks tops in game (going based purely off how many day/night cycles went by while playing through this time, more like 5-7 days). It feels very much to me like a summer camp fling: something that's fun and new, and you really get along with this person, but then you have to go home and back to reality, and eventually you forget about each other and move on. I'd be okay with her joining the squad back at the Base, but only as a friend. I really don't feel like dealing with that weird tension in the next game.

Which brings up my next point on why this romance is not good, in my opinion: why did they introduce it so late? Now, I enjoy DLCs. If they seem worth it, I'll buy them, because I love new content and places to explore, but I am also of the opinion that devs/writers shouldn't put seemingly important characters or character development into extra, and clearly optional, content. If it wasn't in the base game, then it's not as important. Otherwise, it would have been included, again, imo. There are going to be people who won't play Burning Shores, and if Seyka makes an appearance in Horizon 3, a lot of people are going to be lost, confused, and reasonably annoyed. I've kind of shipped Aloy with Avad for two entire games at this point, but they're going to introduce an actual whole ass love interest for Aloy in a DLC that you can only play AFTER you've beaten the base game/main quest line? That just feels so forced and strange, and I don't understand why they would do that.

I can understand Aloy not having romantic feelings for anyone in the first game. She's on a mission to find out where she came from and why, stopping another end of the world with HADES, etc. And while the second game is similar, this is also Aloy's character growth journey. She learns how to make friends and rely on them. She learns that she doesn't need to take the fate of the world onto her shoulders, that she can share that burden with people she learns to trust. So introducing a love interest in Forbidden West feels reasonable--but not in a DLC at the end of the game. They should have introduced Seyka much earlier. Hell, I might have even accepted her introduction when meeting Alva at the Greenhouse or going to retrieve Alva and delve into Thebes! I would have been MUCH more receptive to Seyka/Aloy then! But after the whole story is over? Why? For what? What was their thought process???

I've already had an attachment to another character for Aloy to fall in love with, and went the entire second game thinking that maybe she and Avad could have something (because, at least the way I play/interpret it, they seem to have something, even if it's only a mutual respect--I mean, Avad clearly has a crush, but I play Aloy like she reciprocates, but is just too busy to think about it). All that only for some random person to show up and get shoehorned into the plot at the last second and go "hey, look at me! I'm hot and badass, AND a carbon copy of you, Aloy! I have all your physical abilities, the same temperament and outlook on life with only minor differences, and we both even have sisters! Isn't that awesome? Aren't I awesome? Now, act like a weird, stuttering mess as you develop this weird and out-of-character attachment to me after knowing me for a week."

I've run out of steam writing this now, but I think I got my point across. This crush of Aloy's just feels so out of place and out of character. It would have been much better had it not been so abrupt and fast. If she'd had the whole game, or at least a decent chunk of the MAIN game to develop it, I would be more receptive, but this? I just can't. I don't like it. ANY romance introduced THIS LATE and THIS QUICKLY is bad.

#horizon forbidden west #horizon burning shores #anti aloy/seyka #critique

[airin-lavellan]

my brain agonizes me every day about latching onto rezaren and here's the thing. here's the thing I dislike most about how he was written: he was an inconsistent and rushed character. the inconsistency was the worst part and I could go on forever.

he starts as the morally questionable guy right? the show leads you to believe he's grey in morality- willing to fight a spirit for what he believes is right, manipulative but still caring. the first major hint of the backstory/flashbacks we see is rezaren crying. crying asking what miriam has done in the bloody scene. and that hits like a "holy shit there's more to it

then they open up with the brother/sister thing when they finally meet. still incredibly interesting- a villain who platonically loves the mc? who cares about them but in the wrong way and does the wrong things because of it but overarchingly loves them? amazing.

then in episode four, they build it up. the flashbacks point to rezaren having an idealistic idea of their past and miriam being rightfully very angry. we see it from his eyes, them laughing and playing together. then we see what rezaren ignored. he deflects this by saying he was a child and couldn't protect them- a fair point if we infer his mother was abusive towards, which we can infer from the harrowing "no ammosine has failed" part. he could apologize. he does not. miriam brings up the harrowing as her trump card- extremely strange to me in terms of narration because it portrays rezaren in a...not bad light? his mom is the aggressor, he's just shown as younger and weak and helpless. it doesn't match the buildup

there is a very clear snapping point where redemption is no longer an option for him: when he loses his temper at miriam. the switch is jarring, very jarring, at first, but it's okay. it would have been preferred if he was redeemed but it's not necessary, he could still be an amazing pure evil character.

...and then he's not. he goes far too quickly into too much evil- they set him up for a descent to madness and then go from one scene of "i won't use blood magic tassia don't worry" to "watch me publicly kill this guy on my own team".

when his character is really messed up is the finale. when he decides to go super sayan racist mode and be like "i'm going to enslave you bitch kys" but is STILL TRYING TO RESURRECT NEB. perhaps he's delusional but they don't explain that!! if he's angry with miriam now, if he's fully evil now, his character motivation is gone. it cannot be "i want to resurrect my 'brother' and have a happy family again" because if he's going to turn on miriam in this way he should have no reason to keep trying with the circulum.

the show had so many places it could have solidified him as a villain- a true villain like he was supposed to look like at the end. they could have, say, shown him mistreating miriam or slaves. or shown him owning slaves. because we don't have any idea if the slaves in the summer palace are his- and they're probably not because he doesn't even live in that city. the palace is in Nessum, and he explicitly tells Tassia "don't worry queen i can't keep doing evil blood magic study because soon I have to go back to Minrathous".

they could have made him a descent into madness character- which is totally thrown off by the whole "hey don't get too deep into blood magic" "*kills people*" swapup. so now people can basically paint things however they want- because a lot of the "proof" for him being a certain way is inferences. justified, reasonable inferences, but inferences nevertheless and the show is just badly paced. and so we have people differing from "if you like rezaren you're a slaver" to "actually his enslavement was good and miriam is the real villian" and it's just. aagg. they were all good and bad characters!! liking a fictional character does not mean you agree with them. agony agony agony. anyways sorry for my 9 paragraph essay in your ask box but I am Tormented By Thots and your rezaren post reminded me of the queercoded little man who would call me slurs if I ever breathed the same air as him (he has 55 limp wrists and two arms. and it's no coincidence the show censored the only heterosexual kiss him and tassia have to be fruity at least just a bit)

Wow first of all thank you for taking the time to read my post and giving me your insights. I was fully viewing this in terms of what we see in the show but reading this, I must say a lot of aspects of how he was written also came into play. I loved the show and it's characters and I think it's biggest flaw is it's length since a lot of things had to be rushed and couldn't get explored on a deeper level.

He is definitely presented as a rather grey character and I think it's thanks to all of these sudden shifts that the fandom is very divided, since we didn't get to explore more about him and his other motivations or actions in the past we can merely judge him by what we see, and only what we are shown. From the start he did seem a bit manipulative, hiding true intentions behind the so called kindness, yet as the show progressed I couldn't help rooting for him, like you said: the harrowing scene doesn't show him in a bad light. He was completely helpless and in danger himself, the choice to use Neb was his mother's and I do believe she was also abusive to him. Sure not in the same way as Miriam got abused but you can see how fearful he was. When they were kids he was taught that slavery was normal and okay, yet we see an adult that wants to change that, he recognizes his mistakes.

The snapping did feel rushed and out of nowhere, and you're right. I hadn't noticed how conflicted his motivations are during the show. Perhaps it is indeed flawed writing but I think if we can find a logical explanation, it would point to the circulum itself. Tassia openly says that the thing is changing Rezaren, and she has known him for a while. Again, we haven't seen anything else from his past so nothing we can really base ourselves on. He seems to know blood magic and as far as we know he was always in control using it. Why did it change now? I blame the circulum, mixed of course with his desires being frustrated. Miriam was algo blinded by rage, both were equally stubborn and wanted to do something yet they sought a different purpose with different means and I can love and appreciate both. I just indeed dislike the discussion about Rezaren being a slaver, because imo he definitely isn't.